Classes start next week. I think I’m ready. Or at least I’ve spent most of the last two weeks getting ready. Syllabi are done. LMS content is ready-to-go. I had a training session yesterday with media services to learn how to use the new technology in our classrooms, given that I was teaching completely remotely last year and was away on sabbatical the previous year. We now have fancy cameras installed in each classroom. I don’t plan on using them because my college is planning all in-person classes (masked). But there needs to be contingency plan if a student had to quarantine, so I have one in theory which I hope I won’t have to put into practice.
Office hours will be interesting. I am offering them hybrid, i.e., I will be logged on to Zoom but students can also visit me in my office (masked). However, before they can enter the suite leading to my office, they’ll have to Zoom in first before getting permission to physically enter so that we can all maintain lower human density in the vicinity of a bunch of small rooms. Not sure yet how this will work. One of my classes is the math-symbol-heavy P-Chem, and I’m encouraging my students to come in-person when possible. My other two classes are G-Chem and online Q&A generally works fine, with only slightly reduced efficiency.
My original plan over the summer was to spend about two thirds of my time on research and a third on class prep because I am overhauling my P-Chem class. We won’t be using a textbook and I’m making worksheets for every class meeting. At this point I’ve done the bare minimum; I have enough material prepared to get me through the first four weeks. I only started working on this in earnest several weeks ago rather than starting in June like I originally planned.
The other unexpected activity this summer was doing a chunk of data analysis on “student success” in my department particularly where it relates to different student groups (race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, whether a student transferred from a different institution or is a first-generation college student, etc.) I was able to obtain a reasonably sized data set from the institutional repository and I spent probably a solid two weeks writing scripts to analyze the data. I’m not done yet, but I did put together a presentation for my department. I think it was time well-spent even though it wasn’t originally in my summer plan.
The rest of my summer was earmarked for two things: writing a paper and learning some new research methodology. I’m pleased to say I succeeded in the first endeavor, and I submitted the paper last week. The figures took a long time to make, but I’m quite proud of this paper because I think I pulled together some creative ideas amidst the research data. We’ll see what the reviewers think, but I won’t know for another month or two. The second item on my list is still ongoing. I haven’t made as much progress as I would like although I’ve slogged through some challenging reading with many equations I don’t understand. I also spent a solid few weeks trying to make progress on a new project – I ran a bunch of test simulations and collected a bunch of data, but I’m not sure if I made much of a dent on the problem I’m working on. I have a suspicion that my current approach is flawed.
I did enjoy working mostly from home all summer (I went into the office once a week for a half-day or so). I’m pleased that I was rather disciplined about partitioning my time between work and relaxation at home. I suppose having no travel plans thanks to Covid meant that there was simply a lot of staying in. I enjoyed having lunch at home, and occasionally walking in the park after lunch. Not having to commute saved me 40 minutes every day, and probably several tanks of gasoline.
But summer is fading and the new semester is upon me. I’m actually excited about being back in-person, having run into several students on campus that I had only met in class over Zoom. (I recognized some, but not others; we’re harder to identify when we’re all masked.) I’m not looking forward to teaching while masked, but my classrooms aren’t very big so I hope my voice carries sufficiently. Otherwise I’ll have to get a wireless microphone and amplifier. I have new research students that I’ll be training next week. And soon there will be meetings aplenty. I’ve enjoyed the quietness of the summer but I suppose it’s time to get back into the bustle. I have one more weekend to enjoy before summer fades!
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